As the college football season is coming to a close after tonight’s matchup of Alabama vs. Georgia, many people reflect on the College Football Playoffs. Furthermore, many people like myself think that this playoff bracket should be expanded to at least 8-12 teams.

There are many points to go along with the reasoning, however; the biggest one is that bowl games are just not very fun to watch anymore. A few years ago, there was no playoffs and it was just whoever was ranked number one and two went to the championship. During this time bowl games were more exciting.

However, recently since the addition of the college football playoffs many players are sitting out. If there team is not in the playoffs, the top players are sitting out of their bowl games in order to stay healthy for the NFL. This is making the bowl games a lot more boring because of the players not playing. The games don’t really even mean anything anymore.

An example of this is through Pittsburgh Quarterback Kenny Pickett. Pickett is the ACC player of the year after having a historic season. He decided he was going to sit out of the bowl game to prepare for the 2022 NFL Draft. Which really means he is sitting out to not risk injury because he is a projected first round draft pick.

Therefore, the College Football Playoff Committee should really think about expanding. If they do expand there are a ton of benefits. One example of this is through the players and schools. The players will definitely participate because they have the chance to win a national championship. In a bowl game, they have no purpose in the game and risk injury for no real purpose. No one really remembers who wins what bowl game, but everyone remembers who wins the championship. Therefore, there is no real purpose for these top athletes to play in the bowl games.

Some schools may get a chance to win their first national championship ever. Just as we saw with UC this year. Cincinnati was always ruled out but proved they could play with the best of the best. Some teams are never given a chance to get to the top four even with an undefeated record just because of their name. However, if it were expanded these schools would be able to show what they can do against the top teams in the country.

But the biggest reason the playoffs should be expanded is because of money. The playoffs make billions of dollars for their two games they have. However, they can make so much more if they expand. Furthermore, not many people are watching these bowl games because players are sitting out. People are way more likely to tune into playoff games than some expedition game that really has no prize. Another way schools could benefit from the expansion is to having games at their site. If there were to be an expansion, then the quarterfinals games would most likely be played at the higher teams site. This would serve as a reward in a way for the higher team. It would be like the NFL in a way for those games and would provide a huge home field advantage.

All in all, I do believe the College Football Playoff Committee should really think during the offseason about adding 4-8 teams into the playoff bracket. It will make things a lot more fun and interesting for not just fans but also athletes. It would some smaller schools reach maximum heights which could lead to new teams taking over college football. You never know what kind of upsets can happen when you expand the College Football Playoffs.